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Comparing Society In The Scarlet Letter And Anthem, By Ayn Rand

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While reading certain books readers can experience exceptional stories which change the very way we think. Anthem by Ayn Rand follows the life of Equality 7-2512 and the struggle that he goes through living in a repressive society. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne follows the life of Hester Prynne and her daughter Pearl in a Puritanical community which has condemned them to live a life in isolation for Hester’s sin. A story must be exceptional enough to justify its telling; it must have something more unusual to relate than the ordinary experience of every average human man or woman. A large presence in both books is that of societies effect on the way people think and act. Equality believes that “there are mysteries” everywhere “but the Council of Scholars said that there are no mysteries”, which he believes because he has been brainwashed to think that “the Council of Scholars know all things”(Rand 23). Showing the repressive nature of this society which made all of their citizens believe that they had discovered everything that there is to know, and thus creating a reason for no one to be curious about the world around them.The society that we live in today can so often repress people’s aspirations in the way they are repressed in Night. After having dealt with her ignominy, Hester “offered up a real sacrifice of enjoyment” …show more content…

All that being said, that doesn't necessarily mean that there isn't a deeper meaning that while we may not be able to connect to our life directly wont give the reader some insight into some portion of their life. Some readers may challenge my view that The Scarlet Letter’s purpose wasn't to show the reader how unfair life can be and how it can also be overcome. Yet, even though that might not have been the purpose for it being written in the first place, it still serves as a good

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At the beginning of Anthem Equality has changed his mind about a lot of things in the beginning of the story. Equality got picked to be a street sweeper by the government, but he really wanted to be a scholar but couldn’t because of the government. Equality had a rough life. Well he was a street sweeper but he was smart enough to be a scholar the government did not think he was. In the book anthem by ayn rand Equality was not good for any body or anything at the beginning he had a rough start to his life.

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The word contentious means tending to argue or strife; quarrelsome. This connects to what the chapter is portrayed in many ways. In this chapter, Equality 7-2521/ Prometheus go to the council to discuss the light box and all of their discretions. I think that this chapter title is exactly what is going on in this chapter because they spend most of the chapter arguing with Equality. On the second page, Equality tells the council that they are street sweepers.

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The book “Anthem” is a written by Ayn Rand. The genre of the book is Science Fiction. It as if the book is in a utopian world and certain people rule this world. The society of the people in this book is planned out by the high level of rulers. “Anthem” takes place in the future in a place unknown.

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A Collectivist World like in the novel Anthem written by Ayn Rand have an effect into the Government has Authority for everybody and everything, Restriction on choices for the Individual, and Desire to create or innovate is forgotten. Although, a Collectivist Government is capable for equality, no matter what their position is in the society. However, the individual does not have the capability to make decision in their life without a supervision decides on what the person will do for living in that society. In History, there are examples of a collectivist society, such as China and Japan have their standards for everybody is to working as a group, and everybody thinks the same way as a group. The Author Ayn Rand had to deal with living in

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This made Equality find out who he is and gave him the chance to be an individual. Equality’s views and mindset changes through out the book. He was born in a society where people are named by numbers. A world where people are used as machines. In this world the word “I” is out of existence.

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Monica Lising February 16, 2017 PreAP English Mrs. Daniel Fiction vs. Reality Ever wondered about living in a perfect society where nothing goes wrong? In the book Anthem by Ayn Rand, the author explains how a “perfect” society is then seen in a different perspective of how awful it actually is. In relation, North Korea and the book are shown in ways with how diverse and correlated the two subjects are. The subjects are then compared and contrasted within the society that was created for and by the people of the population.

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Luke Quinn Ms. Bonica Banned books. 2/11/15 In the book Anthem by Ayn Rand a major theme is oppression. In the book everybody in the society are extreme followers and take the Councils laws as absolute truth, they do this voluntarily not by force. Many few are exceptions to this obeying this tyrant council, who preach extreme communism, and that no one person matters at all, but only the survival of mankind matters.

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In the story of Anthem, Ayn Rand intended the book to be a depiction of a possible future for multiple reasons, even though it doesn't make sense of how it could be a possible future. Like how the word “I” has been removed from the entire language and is a sin as well as an illegal word to even say. Rand wants people to see in the story how it would be if the whole world was basically taken over by collectivism and to show a world that bans forms of individualism. Rand showed many examples in the book of how Anthem is a depiction of a possible future. To begin, in the Society of Equality “ In the Home of Infants; the children were born not knowing who their parents are.

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Anthem is a story written by Ayn Rand as a propaganda piece portraying the evils of communism. The book takes place in the future in a undisclosed city surrounded by forest. In this city a collectivist society dwells. The conflict of Anthem is character vs. society where one man by the name of Equality decides to go against his broken government. Equality took a stand against his broken society, he has defied the council of scholars and his government, had a relation with a women, and escaped the city to The Uncharted Forest.

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“The dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they act on their dreams with open eyes to make it possible,” Lawrence of Arabia once said. Men can be dangerous. Those who follow their desires and explore the forbidden are pledged to hold the world upon its inner core. If the forbidden is challenged and faced with its true reality, then the greatness you find is the long lost concealed knowledge. This is what the character Equality realizes in the book “Anthem”.

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Individuality is defined as the quality that makes one person or thing different from all others. However, individuality does not exist in all societies. Anthem by Ayn Rand, is set in a dystopian society where collectivism is believed to be supreme, and individuality is considered taboo. Equality 7-2521 is a Street Sweeper who questions the collectivist society that he lives in. Equality 7-2521 is a gifted individual who is different from his peers in the fact that he has personal interests.

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Anthem Synopsis I read the science fiction novel Anthem by Ayn Rand. Anthem features a struggle between morality and progress through the eyes of one brother named Equality 7-2521. The story is set many years into the future, which can be proved with “It took fifty years to secure the approval of all the Councils for the Candle . . . We cannot alter the Plans again so soon.” (Rand 74).

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From the beginning to the end of the story Anthem, written by Ayn Rand, Equality is limited to any type of freedom in his strict society. He was limited to writing, interacting with others, and even self expression, for they are looked upon as sins. Although Equality believed he sinned at the beginning of the story, he realized his society was limiting him to any type of discovery, this including the Unmentionable Times and the Unspeakable Word. This gave him the push to be his own person and take a stand against the people whom he calls “his brothers.” Equality’s final actions are correct, for his actions speak more as an act of curiosity, rather than a sin.

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"We are one in all and all in one. There are no men but only the great WE, One, indivisible and forever’”(Rand 19). In Ayn Rand’s dystopian novel, Anthem, the citizens are trained from birth to think only in the plural, to the point where they cannot even conceive of individuals, but only see each other as part of the whole group. Rand’s protagonist, Equality 72521, begins the novel as a street-sweeper who is devoted to the group, but begins to move towards individuality as he progresses towards pure selfishness, as Rand believes we all should. Rand uses the words “we” and “I” to represent Equality’s journey from being dependent on the group, to being utterly independent of everyone.

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1284 Words | 6 Pages

The society’s intentions to portray themselves as pure individuals while condemning Hester for her sins even though they mask their own, highlights the hypocritical nature of the society. Ultimately, by the use of the supernatural character of Mistress Hibbins, Hawthorne is able to provide a metaphorical representation of the hypocrisy in the society while conforming to the conventions of the gothic genre. Moreover, through the presence of negative emotions that catalyze actions, Hawthorne effectively illustrates the consequences for not confessing sin while conforming to

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